NEW DETAILS AROUND THE ARREST OF A UKRAINIAN SOLDIER IN ITALY

As was reported earlier, a Ukrainian military Vitaly Markiv has been arrested in Italy on suspicion of being involved in death of an Italian journalist in the war zone in Donbass in 2014.

Today I filed a deputy inquiry to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the SBU and the GPU, asking them to check information on possible contacts between Italian investigators and representatives of the so-called "Ddonbass republics" in the case of R. Markiv and, if confirmed, to give a legal assessment of such contacts.

With help of Markiv's lawyer, Ukrainian law enforcement agency should examine materials of his case and find out whether it consists evidences taken from militants from the so-called "DNR." If such suspicions are confirmed, the Ukrainian side has all the legal grounds to accuse employees of the Prosecutor's Office of Pavia (Lombardy region) in cooperation with the "DNR" terrorist organization.Recall, according to Italian law enforcement authorities, Roman Markiv could be involved in the events of May 24, 2014. On that day, a group of foreign journalists got under a mortar shelling in the outskirts the village of Andryivka, Sloviansk district of the Donetsk region. Italian photoreporter Andrea Rockelli and his Russian translator Andrew Mironov died. It were representatives of the "DNR" terrorist organisation, who reported first noticed the death of journalists. The bodies of the deceased Italian journalist and his Russian translator were transported to Slavyansk, which at that time was controlled by the Russia guided terrorists. The bodies of the deceased Italian journalist and his Russian translator were transported to Slavyansk, which at that time was controlled by the Russia guided terrorists. Clearly, that the reliablity of therrorists' reports on the autopsy results is out of the question. According to information from open sources, Rocchelly and Mironov died of fragmentary injuries that were received as a result of mortar shelling.The Italian police classify the criminal proceedings as a deliberate killing. "We have no reason to distrust the law enforcement agencies of Italy. The qualification of the criminal proceedings, which is being investigated in Italy, is the deliberate murder of journalist Rocchelly." - said the Deputy Prosecutor General of Ukraine Yevhen Yenin. However, according to Mr. Yenin, the Italian party hadn't appealed to their Ukrainian colegues for information regarding the person of Vitaliy Markiv, or the hostilities in Slaviansk at all.It is a French journalist Roglon, who put forward an assumption on possible involvement of the unit in which Vitaly Markov fought to the death of the Italian journalist. In the framework of criminal proceedings initiated by the Prosecutor's Office of the city of Pavia, he pointed out that the death of Rocchelly and Mironov was the result of the use of weapons by the unit of the National Guard of Ukraine, where the detained Ukrainian had been serving. According to the Ukrainian investigation, the death of two journalists died as result of a mortar attack, carried out from the territoy controlled by Russian-terrorist troops. Also worth noting that at that moment Markiv's unit wasn't equipped with artillery, but only with small arms. Within the framework of the case investigation that has been conducting in Ukraine, the SBU questioned the witnesses of that events, and they mentioned a crossfire on that day. Another key point to note is that mr. Rocchelly and his Russian colleague/translator entered the so-called "gray zone" without coordinating their actions with the official authorities of Ukraine. Moreover, the area they died, was not controlled by Ukraine's Army at that time. Thus, the Armed Forces soldiers simply could not know about the locaton of Rocchelly and Mironov at that moment in the so-called "gray zone," and given the illegal nature of the journalists' prsence in this territory, they weren't responcible for safety of the above-mentioned persons. The question concerns qualification of the chriminal proceedings, namely: deliberate murder, given the fact that it is a question of the death of Rocchelly as a result of a mortar shelling from a distance, which makes impossible the visual personal identification of the one.Another interesting fact is that the suspicion to Vitaly Markiv was put forward by the Prosecutor's Office of the city of Pavia (Lombardy region).It is noteworthy that in July 2016, the regional council of Lombardy voted for the resolution on "Recognition of the principle of self-determination of the Crimea and the lifting of sanctions against Russia." The initiative was presented by the Lega Nord right-wing political movement, which however, declares separatism in its political program. In addition, the political force is known by its links with Italian oligarch Silvio Berlusconi. On 22 October 2017, a referendum is planned on widening of authonomy for the Italian region. It is initiated by Roberto Maroni, a president of the Lombardi region and active member of the Lega Nort.According to the information, published by analytical department of the Prava Sprava public organisation, Luca Bartoni, an Italian politican and a Lega Nord representative, has close relations with a Russian citizen Irina Osipova. In Italy, Osipova is the head of the "Russian-Italian Youth" organisation, which often conducts public actions in support of the so-called "LNR" and "DPR" (Russian guided terrorist organisations, which have been operating in the occupied parts of the Luhansk and Donetsk regions of Ukraine since 2013). Osipova himself is closely connected with the Fratelli d'Italia - Alleanza Nazionale party, being an assistant to the head of the party Giorgia Meloni.It should be noted that Dante Cattaneo, the Mayor of the Italian town of Cerian Laghetto, who directed the scandalous monument ot "the Martyrs of Odessa" (a branch of Moscow-guided terrorists in fact, who started a shootout in the center of Odessa on May 2, 2013 attempting to capture the city), is also a member of the Lega Nort.